Into every life a little rain must fall. Usually when you are having a parade!

My parade yesterday was going fine. It was marching by and I was just enjoying it. That is until I had a knock on the door. Cricket was having a problem with unit #222. We got him going and filled him with diesel, the whole time I was rolling things through my mind trying to figure out what was going on. The truck would roll black smoke and accelerate normally and then a plume of white smoke would billow for a brief period followed by the familiar black smoke again. It was almost like the fuel solenoid would turn off and then back on. I told Cricket to baby it back to the other end and have the fuel filter changed. I followed him six miles just to be sure he didn't have another problem.

In the mean time, LM had called on unit #22 and said he could not build any air. I filled my truck with gas and then lit a shuck to go the thirty miles to where LM was at. When I arrived he told me he couldn't even get the hood latches to release. After some contortionists tricks I laid my hand on the latch release and pulled. The hood popped up! I began to inspect the air compressor and air governor, I took a wrench and tapped gently on the latter (any real mechanic knows how instrumental a good beating is in a repair). I walked around the truck and began to bleed air tanks. I moved to the trailer and found a glad hand gasket leaking and finally moved back to the air tank reservoir. I could hear a gurgling as the air was trying to fill the tank, yet I noticed the air bag suspension was not up. I opened a petcock to drain water from the tank and found there was an abundance present! After about ten minutes, I sealed the system, charged the brakes and began to repair a broken cable on the hood latch release. In a few moments, we checked the air pressure and found it to be better than it was. I told LM to go ahead and see how it behaved at road speeds. I ended up following him to Coahoma before I turned back.

I could not believe all the phone calls I missed while I was crawling around the truck and trailer. I still haven't gotten all of them returned. We may try to find time to pick up a new phone for me today. My phone needs an exorcist. It has a mind of it's own and will change rings or choose not to ring depending on it's mood! Crazy thing is we have witnessed that lots of time it won't ring while being charged. Go figure.

Meanwhile back at the ranch. Cricket was at the compress two hours trying to get unloaded. Mr. Helms and I are going to have a chat about that. In fact, I had three trucks sit there, all of them over an hour wait time. But back to the plot! I had told Cricket to take the truck by the Cottonwood shop and let their mechanic check the connections on the starter. I thought maybe when the dealer shop replaced the starter they had not tightened them up sufficiently. The mechanic wasn't there so Cricket went on down the road to B-Line. As Cricket's luck would have it, they were feeding barbecue yesterday! So Cricket lost another two hours eating and getting his fuel filters changed. Turns out last week this truck was serviced and B-Line failed to change the primary filter and in addition to this, the truck had gotten a pretty good dose of water in it's fuel supply at some point! This truck has taken on thousands of gallons of fuel from the coop fuel stop while only taking on less than a hundred gallons else where. Who do you think has water in their fuel. Anyhow, the truck is running good now!

It seemed that last night every time I woke the plant was at high idle. The had an alright night production wise, but it was nothing to brag about!

Currently we have threatening rain showers that have followed a damp foggy night. I won't allow myself to really look at the board numbers but I know we are closing in on the fifty thousand bale mark! Lat year that would have meant we were almost through (56,000 bales), this year it means we are between a quarter and a third!

One day at a time sweet JESUS!

FATHER, YOU the GOD!

I find myself needing to go to Midland. One of the bale trucks needs tags by Saturday and I discovered the 2290 (Heavy Highway Use Tax) needs to be paid.

We actually started for Midland yesterday and were about twenty miles away from the compound when I learned that Pepa was coming out on a truck. Krl and I discussed it and changed our destination from Midland to Stanton. We did so knowing that several items on our lists (mainly truck parts) would not be available there, but also knowing that our primary need was to go to the post office and to get drinking water. We developed a plan and I dropped Krl at the grocery store and I went to the RO water station. We were in the check out line at the store when my phone toned and Pepa told me he was sixteen miles from the plant. Krl and I got our groceries loaded and I set the cruise close to triple digits and we arrived at the plant before Julio had Pepa's truck loaded! Then it was fuel and refreshing the program to Pepa before he left. He made his trip and then I sent him in to Roscoe to give the truck to the regular driver (hopefully). This regular driver had spent yesterday giving a deposition in a matter involving his former employer.

Actually yesterday was a pretty good day. The GM has been in a good mood, the plant has been running well and for the most part the trucks have been staying up. The only trucking glitch I had was a driver who is always watching everyone else instead of tending to his own business. This driver was complaining of how the forklifts had loaded the last load on the slip seat driver before him and began telling me how we needed to change the way we tie the loads. I cut him short and told him "No problem, from here on out, you can load and strap your own loads". He immediately began to stammer and told me "That wouldn't be necessary".

Today I have one bale truck driver at Scott and White in Temple having a cancer checkup. I have made some alternate arrangements to keep us out of a bind during his absence. We will hope for a good report for this driver.

Yesterday the girls in the office left at 5. The office is supposed to be open until 7. Frank had an issue he had to address in the plant and the GM was in Lubbock to pick up a module truck from the shop, so in a weird twist I ended up manning the office until Frank came in shortly before 7 . Luckily for me no one is harvesting due to the recent snow and rain so it was mainly answering the phone and drinking coffee.

Well, I am beginning to think about a trek to Midland. If I can get one or two things to fall in place this morning it could mean lunch in the city!

Have a day!

FATHER, punch YOUR cruise control, I like the way YOU'RE running things!

It finally seems as though things are finding their groove. Of course it didn't help a whole bunch to basically take two days off last week to work on the Thanksgiving meal for the crews, but I think it was worth it!.

Last year I began giving out what I called score cards to all the seed truck drivers. We had a couple of drivers who were sluffing off and not carrying their part of the load and I felt that if everyone else knew what was going on, peer pressure might help boost productivity. On these cards I ranked every driver as to productivity. I have what I call a baseline, which is fourteen, and baseline is the minimum I expect from every driver in a given week. In the past these rankings have been almost owned by Adan and Gilbert from South Texas. I finally got around to looking at the rankings for the last week. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that our past winners were tied for third place, sporting sixteen loads each. Cowboy on GMT 1 came in second with seventeen, and the weeks champion was a newcomer, Carlos, on truck 23 with eighteen loads!

I cannot imagine how ANYONE can haul more than this and log them legally! This was a real surprise as in the past this truck and the former driver had wallowed back in the pack. Best part is that Carlos has a friend who is now driving unit 15. I visited with Carlos and told him that was a big number and cautioned him on not over extending himself or burning himself out. He told me he was really enjoying the run because it was so different from anything he had done before and that unit 23 was a dream unit. I asked about any problems, how the unit was driving, if the engine was trying to heat and so on and so forth. All he had to say about the unit was positive which was a shock in itself from the previous pilot's reports. Carlos was laughing when he told me he had been stopped at Tahoka by DOT and weighed and he axled out legal, being just a few hundred pounds over but well within tolerance, and then (as per usual, if DOT is going to stop you they are going to try to find something) the officer did a road side inspection! No problems, no brakes out of adjustments, no tires, no wheels, no lights out. Nothing!

Yippee! That is kind of like winning the daily double! Carlos did ask me if he could make a few changes in the truck like taking a lift spacer off the brake pedal and such. Most of the proposed changes were small and bringing the truck back closer to factory. I told him if it contributes to continued productivity I sure didn't mind and I'm sure the unit owner wouldn't!

Carlos recently returned from two years in Iraq and has moved to West Texas. I am impressed with his work ethic. He is courteous, knowledgeable and hard working, but most of all I am impressed with his mindset. He actually doesn't mind working, and every day is a new beginning. I guess with what he has seen he knows that this world is far from perfect.

He has been a breath of fresh air not only for me as his supervisor, but his co-workers really appreciate the contribution he is making!!

I'm just hoping that as his wallet gets fat from the money he is making it doesn't make it difficult for him to get comfortable in the driver's seat!

You go Carlos!

Krl and I put together all the tickets for the Thanksgiving meal and I took them to the GM. I told him to take off $250 from the total ticket for items we bought and didn't use. He asked like what, and I told him we had purchased a safety turkey and it now resides in the freezer. He looked at me and exclaimed, $250 for a turkey! I told him no, that we had the turkey, some milk, some spuds and a few other items that we had kept after meal preparation, and I had factored in a cost for the meal for my people deducted it! I am sure he will review it further before sending it to Kristy for payment as per our agreement. I didn't include anything for Rian or his gas, but that was between Rian and me.

Every Tuesday Frank, the plant "Super", holds safety meetings in the meeting room of the office. After my conversation with the GM yesterday I went into the meeting room and put left over turkey and ham into smaller ziploc bags and I told Frank when his services were over to tell employees that baggies of left overs were available. He ran out in brief minutes. I walked in minutes after the meeting was over and I could see men exiting with ziplocs and plastic bags. When I walked in to the meeting room Frank and I looked at the empty refrigerator in awe! They took it all, meat, left over dinner rolls, marshmallows. Everything. Maybe we should have left the clean up to our guests of honor Thanksgiving Day!

If we had had shopping carts we could have made it a timed event!

Have a day! Remember the trick is in the mindset. Brighten someone else's day!

FATHER, thank YOU for new beginnings. Thank you for change. Work YOUR change in me. Thank YOU for every worker at this compound, I ask for safety and YOUR blessings on them.

Wow! Several really good things to report.

First of all, I have no bales on the ground. I had talked with Rick extensively yesterday and finally got it across that we had been a power unit down for a WEEK! We did a little slip seating and walla, the night drivers kept up. In fact we are so up I may send a load of motes to Lubbock as soon as we get them tarped.

Second, my first additional South Texas seed truck has arrived! There will be another the end of the week! Yes! We put no seed (zero) into the big seed house last night, the first night since the bad weather arrived. Of course we have many, many loads to take out but that will happen in good time.

Third, last evening I was complaining to Krl of my shoulders hurting. Usually this is what wakes me at night. If I sleep to long in one position they begin to ache, if I roll over wrong my shoulders hurt and wake me. (Thank you high school football). Krl gave me a couple of gel capsules, I really don't know which they were but it started with an "A" (either Advil or Aleve). After my short night Sunday I went to bed at nine last night and when I walked in the living room this morning the clock said six-forty-four! That hasn't happened in I don't know how long! It was wonderful!

And lastly, the company received a refund check for an over payment to a government agency. I have been talking to Krl about getting permission to set it aside for some Christmas festivities for our office! I think we deserve it and I would like to entertain ideas on how to spend it, so if you have ideas, let me know! Either e-mail or leave a post here!

Oh, by the way the refund check was for $1.54. Stay within budget with you ideas!

For the first time this season, I feel that our equipment numbers are getting in line, in addition I feel that the personnel for the most part are dependable. I am hoping we get a breath of relief before the next crisis!

Hope your day and week are looking up!

FATHER, work in me, through me, for me, YOUR plan.

Whoopee Do Do!

That would say it all about my Saturday, Sunday and early Monday!

It seemed as all any one could or wanted to do involved pulling me away from my computer which meant putting me more behind on truck and driver settlements. One driver wanted to call and argue with me about the numerical sequence on his load. He told me "That Mexican boy told me to sign out on those numbers, but he wrote them down wrong!" I told the driver, "I spent from 7am. to 11 am. on the dock, grouping numbers and I am the Mexican boy who wrote those numbers down so stop arguing and sign the damn sheet and leave!"

Minutes later this same man called me and told me he could not make his fuel card work. Although he apologized, I told him if I didn't complete pay settlements, I would put out a note telling everyone else it was this driver's fault!

Saturday night I had a driver run out of fuel twenty-four miles from the compound. Call me crazy but I am not sympathetic about running out of fuel!

Sunday afternoon saw that same truck have an air line weighed down by ice rub on the drive-line and begin leaking, causing the spring brake to apply itself, right in the middle of the road. Julio and I made a run down there to get the damaged hose and return to make a new one when we found that you could not access the other end of the hose without removing the trailer. To remove the trailer you had to be able to drive the truck from under it. With the brakes applied we could not adjust the brake to back it off, so we finally opted to drive the pins from the brake chamber control arm. It allowed us to drive back to the compound where we dropped the loaded trailer and removed and replaced the line. Four hours later.

Last but not least, in the wee hours of Monday morning the only night bale driver who has worked the last week called me telling me he had an engine issue. Apparently the turbo was going out and he limped in to Sweetwater before parking the truck at the yard. I have no idea what he wanted me to do, I guess I could have told him to let me talk with that engine. It is almost like he expected me to fix it remotely.

I had called Jake late Sunday evening to see if Eli, their night man, was going to run (Wayne had given him off since Tuesday) and Jake told me he would make a call. In a minute Eli called me and said Wayne had put him on seed last night. Wayne is the dumb ass who thinks he knows what is going on but really has his head up his ass. Speaking of ass, I have reached my limit with him and now I have Wayne down for a deluxe ass whipping next time I see him. Wayne can talk the talk but when it comes to backing it up he can't and he doesn't even have the backbone to answer his phone. In the future if I refer to Darryl Junior you need to know I am referring to Wayne!

If I have to make a change out here, the blame will fall squarely on Wayne's inability to follow protocol.

This morning finds us way behind again. I have summoned help. From here it is really simple. You either put up or shut up. The ball is in their court, either play it or get out of the way!

I am so tired of being jerked around in multiple directions as the result of stupid decisions. My program has not changed, my expectations have not changed. Everyone needs to just shut up and toe the line.

The proof is in the pudding!

FATHER, I need a lot of help here!

Brrrrrrrr!

Winter time and not a fireplace in sight!

This is proving to be quite the little winter storm. Just enough precipitation to make it miserable. The temperature hovers just above freezing but that nice little Texas breeze gives it a little cutting edge. I am hoping that conditions do not deteriorate much during the night.

This morning I made my rounds about six-fifteen or six-twenty and it wasn't a sight for sore eyes, it was a sore sight for my eyes. Three hundred bales loaded, five hundred more sitting on the ground. I waited until seven to call Jon to tell her to send help. I explained that we needed our three regular trucks just to keep up with current production during the day and it would require two or three more trucks to pull the slack. Before any relief got here in the form of extra trucks, we had six hundred on the ground.

I don't have much hope for any of the other units showing up this late in the day. Actually part of this problem is weather related and the other part is stupidity on Wayne's part. He gave a driver off from Tuesday night until tomorrow and promised someone would be on that truck if he had to drive it himself. Since Tuesday night that truck has hauled only two loads, neither one by Wayne. Normally that truck would have hauled nine loads by now and twelve by morning.

Tomorrow is a maintenance Sunday but I'm not even telling my truck drivers.

Pepa had me send his truck in Friday morning to have some work done. The driver was meeting another driver who is going on Pepa's other trucks I have out here and they were going to head out. As it turns out, Jake loaded Pepa's trailer at Roscoe to go to Lubbock and when the driver went to get his trailer it was on another truck. When they went to unhook the trailer it began sinking. When I talked with them they had barely left Roscoe and I was already thinking they were late getting here. That was mid morning and it is after four in the evening now.

Pepa was trying to locate his truck so he could inform me of what to expect and he told me he finally got hold of Jason who was on his way to Cisco for playoffs and Jason told him Jake was already at the game. I'm not sure where Jon was at.

Priorities.

We are going to run all the seed trucks through the weekend as well. The office will be closed until one so I have notified all the seed trucks to be back here at one. Some of the drivers are thrilled, I'm sure others will be "baby cry".

Deal with it!

I have been hard at it working on settlements. I think I lack two and I will be through. Thing is one driver still has a ticket copy that I need to complete them and that is the driver I have been looking for all day long.

Krl had Rian bring her a ham bone. She had mentioned cooking some lima beans. She threw me a curve (no she didn't throw me a bone) and cooked pintos instead. We have enjoyed the spicy aroma of supper to come all day long! Maybe a little cornbread, some taters, and a little left over ham!

I love cold weather foods. Beans, stews, chili, and soups! Yum!

I suppose best part is, since I have to be inside, I'd rather be inside in this kind of weather!

Hope you are staying close to the fire!

Speaking of fire. The other day Krl and I were in Odessa picking up travel trailer parts when Krl went into a new display travel trailer. It had a fireplace!

Who woulda thunk!

FATHER, keep all of our people safe and warm through this cold spell!

Back to the grindstone!

After devoting most of yesterday and Wednesday to the Thanksgiving meal for the crews, we find ourselves playing catch up with our regular work. The pay cycle has started again, and that means we are hard at it trying to have checks ready when those guys come knockin'. Then on to the truck and driver settlements for Monday.

It is a good thing because trucks are running way behind! It would take five bale trucks running all day just to catch up, and that is exactly what we need to do because they are predicting more rain/snow/sleet for tonight and tomorrow night. If were to have a problem with the weather with the numbers we have on hand right now it would be a train wreck! I know from all my years out here how important it is to keep up and if you get behind, how critical it is to "make hay while the sun is still shinin'"! If we have a weather window, we had better take advantage!

The Thanksgiving meal was a big success! I am unsure how many we fed, 102, 104, 98, 96. There are varying counts depending on plate count because some people took plates to their roommates and may or may not have used an extra plate to cover the "take out". This year was pretty easy it seemed. Rian doing the turkeys and hams was a real blessing, and his securing the other supplies from his commercial vendor was a big help. Frank and Nancee were top notch. Krl supervised the dressing and Frank and Nancy poured ingredients and mixed it. People would probably think we are crazy because we mix it in a big plastic storage tote! We all acted as hosts and hostesses which allowed for each of us to kind of float in and out. Rian's expertise in catering was put to good use as he policed all the different dishes and kept them fresh and full. Kristy cooked rolls along with Nancee and Felipe's wife (36 dozen), and Kristy put together the fruit salad (O.K. we told her it was the office manager's duty). I think all of us iced glasses and sliced and served pies. Once again we used the turkey fryer to the max and still have not cooked a turkey! (We boiled chickens, squash and warmed forty five pounds of creamy deluxe potatoes (in a bag)).

All told, it was a great success due to it being a joint effort by so many. Best news is, it is a year until we will do it again.

Last night we bagged up some ham and turkey, several pies and two loaves of bread and sent it into the plant. We will do the same today!

When we had emptied all the roaster broasters and other serving trays the GM came in and told us we had had a hard day, to sit it aside and Roy and his assistant could take all of them Friday morning and wash them and return them to the meeting room and then we would go through them and determine where they needed to go.

And to think earlier in the day I had nothing to be thankful for?

I am in no hurry to haul our stuff back to the travel trailer because it is a pretty good job to store all of it. I guess we look like a party waiting to happen. One show time rotisserie oven, four broaster roasters, two warming trays, one huge cast iron skillet and of course one turkey fryer! All of these are permanent fixtures in our storage.

Hope your holiday was a good one!

FATHER bless this day!

I will have to say, this has been an extremely difficult Thanksgiving season for me. It has nothing to do with our heading the efforts to prepare the meal for one-hundred-thirty-five co-workers, but it has everything to do with my mental state.

It would be very easy to NOT be thankful this year. I look back and think, who in their wildest dreams would have predicted what transpired just in the month of June. However, if you take that month from the year, it hasn't been a bad year. It is just that June had such a mammoth effect on so many.

So, after giving myself a lecture, I realize we have so much to be thankful for. Despite the tragedy, there have been victories. Pepa's cancer treatment, new babies on the way, pups, broadened horizons.

And last but not least, I am thankful for those who have enriched our lives with their own and continue to enrich our lives with memories of them.

Have a blessed day.

FATHER I ask that YOU continue to heal our hearts. Forgive me when I am negative. Thank YOU for all our blessings. Praise You, from whom all blessings flow.

Lots has been going on, lots has not been going on, Depending on that precise moment in time.

The plant seems to have a mind of its own. It had a very good week then a so so week and Monday, it decided it needed a day off. Actually it was late Sunday when it first had a problem. The press was having a problem and Frank the "Super" had his laptop connected trying to figure out why it was doing what it was doing. Finally upon a physical, visual inspection, they realized that the hole in the bottom of the press pit was filled with hydraulic oil. The press pit is probably thirty-five feet deep and then under one side of the press is another hole some fifteen or sixteen feet deep. It is home to the big hydraulic cylinder which extends itself to compress the bales of cotton when they are tied with the wire ties. This cylinder has a large hydraulic line (actually a pipe about five inches in diameter) that pressures the cylinder ram up and down in a matter of seconds. Immediately they stopped the hydraulic pumps and started sump pumps, pumping the oil from the pit within a pit in order to see where the leak was. Finally the oil was vacated and gin employees descended into the small opening to inspect and locate the problem. For me this would be very claustrophobic. It is close, it is dark, it is hot (they had fans blowing fresh air into the hole). Finally they determined a welded joint on an elbow was cracked, they began removing flange bolts and brought in a chain hoist and lifted the damaged pipe to ground level where a welder who had been summoned would make the repairs. We were down about sixteen hours from start to start up and lost about eight hundred gallons of oil. Just as they were starting back up with the plant, Krl and I were leaving headed to the bank and to Midland to begin buying Thanksgiving groceries. Before we were even to Midland, Herbert my lead day forklift operator called telling me we were down again. Another hydraulic leak on the other end of the very same elbow. Thankfully they were watching and discovered the leak quickly and did not lose a lot of oil. They brought the pipe back to ground level and the welder was summoned again. By the time the plant fired up again, it had been twenty-three hours. That's close enough in my books to call it a day!

Krl and I are so excited. Rian called and asked if I was serious about him cooking the turkeys and hams for the two crew's meal on Thursday. I told him I knew he was busy cooking items that had been ordered, that it was just wishful thinking. He told me this was probably the only year he would ever be able to help out. Erica is on travel restriction until the baby comes, and Rian said they had no Thanksgiving plans. In other words he was volunteering. Thank YOU JESUS. He told me he would come down either late Wednesday or early Thursday and bring his pit to cook the meats. I told him the weather forecast was not good and if it was more convenient, cook the items in Lubbock and bring the prepared items down here. As our plan came together, things began to work. Rian would get the turkeys and other supplies he needs to cook, in Lubbock, the hams and other supplies would come from Sysco Foods and Rian's account representative.

Now Krl and I are trying to figure out how to cook Thanksgiving mid-stream. So today we'll begin boiling eggs, cooking cornbread, sauteing onions, cooking celery and other pertinent parts of the meal. One of the things I am most thankful for is that with Rian cooking the turkeys and hams, it means one less cleaning of the roaster broasters! Normally we are making plans for multiple uses of the portable roaster broasters. Ie., get the turkeys cooked early where we can clean the roasters to cook dressing in a couple and begin heating other side items. The girls in the office have offered to take brown and serve rolls and cooks them, let them cool and then put them back in their plastic bags. We have thirty-six dozen of them to do!

I have got to get started on my billings. I have not entered seed loads since Saturday and I am thirty-three loads behind for bales. I'll catch up. I am toying with the idea of hiring an additional employee. That would give me three people on the ground for each shift, with two forklift operators on a shift. That gives me a comfort level where if someone becomes sick or has an emergency, we could shift around and cover it. Also, after the first of the year the employees usually rotate out and go home for a few days. Some of the guys live a sixteen hour bus ride from the Texas-Mexico border so it really isn't worth it for just a day or two. I can understand. Of course this could become a mute point because Delfino became an American citizen this summer and has yet to get his pass port. I actually figured he would have dual citizenship but I can't say for sure.

Thanksgiving isn't here and already the workers are talking about time off for Christmas. Usually we get two days, there are rumblings of possibly three this year. We can dream can't we.

Pat called me this morning. She has just returned from her trip to Huntsville. She was helping Steph and J.R. move into a town home. Robyn also made the drive there from Sinton and spent some time with them. It sounded like they had a good time!

Hag had a birthday Sunday, we left him a message on their machine. Pat said he is stripping cotton had had fallen off the stripper while she was gone. They took him to the ER, but never got him close than the parking lot.

That is a quick look at our world. Hope yours is painted to suit you!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for answered prayers!

Twelve bells and all is not well. That is nothing new.

Both docks are behind. I began calling for additional units shortly after seven this morning. We have one seed truck without a driver, the wrecked truck is out and one of the lease contractors broke down night before last. We are hubbing it at all fronts. Temporary help should be in route by now and help for the remainder of the year should be here between now and Wednesday!

The broken down truck lost a turbocharger. There was one parts store in Lubbock with one in stock. Their price $3400. Or the trucker could order one in this morning for $2100. To me that is a no brainer!

I had a really productive Friday morning preparing hourly payroll and moving right into bale spreads and settlements. By Twelve noon I had completed both. That left seed settlements, but I usually don't rush on them because tickets aren't turned in until mid afternoon, especially if the drivers are running predominately nights. I had built all my models, spread them into the different units and had very few holes to fill. Finally about three I went into the office with my laptop to enter the final data. By three-thirty I was back in my trailer tabulating and entering deductions. I was about fifteen minutes away from saving and printing when my computer blinked and the excel file was gone. Try as I might I could not resuscitate it. Crazy thing was my computer kept telling me the file was still open but it was no where to be found!

About five yesterday afternoon I began re-entering all the weeks data. Thankfully, it was not a really big week. Seventy-six loads I believe, and that was enough. This morning I got up and began spreading them into different unit settlements and finally entering all the fuel and or driver deductions.

You have no idea how frustrated I was!

I have been told I need to change my storage media. I am in a habit of saving to a floppy. I thought I would save to a CD this year but when I tried it I experienced some problems so I went back to the floppy. Greg, another contractor out here told me I need to go to a USB key. I think I am fixing to do something.

This morning I am saving to floppy and hard drive. I guess I need a flash drive for my old printers to tell my floppy disks and my laptop how fulfilling it was when I hauled all my old HP printers out to the driveway and held them overhead to punish them before depositing them in our dumpster!

I have talked a couple of times with K.O. this morning. We are bouncing ideas off one another, trying to develop a plan that benefits my program and his and also would provide some help (either trailers or complete rigs) for Fred's bunch. This year it is either feast or famine, I don't think it matters what plant you are at.

Have a day!

FATHER, expand me!

I have come to a conclusion.

My truck drivers are ADD. Just about the time you think they have figured out what we are doing, they take their eye off the ball.

Somebody needs to be on medication. I just haven't decided if it is them or me.

We'll get back to work somehow, run some extra equipment in on it and hopefully catch up. Crazy thing once again, one dock flourishes while the other doesn't. Night before last it was seed trucks that sluffed off while bale trucks got the job done, then last night it flipped around again! You just can't out guess them, that's for sure!

I am trying to get my brain in the right frame of mind to jump on hourly employee pay sheets and then settlements.

O.K., maybe it is me who needs medication.

The last two mornings have had that sharp crisp edge, reminding us that winter is just around the corner. I am ready I suppose. If I am not I had better get that way.

Have a day!

FATHER, YOU have some work to do in me!

Progress.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Slow but steady!

This entire week has been a train wreck, but it is trying to rally. If a couple of more things fall into place, it could turn it around.

Truck numbers are up, although they aren't maxed out. Give me a few more days and it should be all right. I keep getting calls from guys who want to work but they are still in South Texas. The help I need is now!

I am so thankful we have the new storage, without it things would have been ugly with a capital U.

I recently sent two tarps to the repair shop. They called yesterday to tell me one of them was ready. I inquired about the other and they have yet to tell me what it's status is. Crazy thing is I had a trailer measured yesterday for a new tarp and they told me it would be ready late today.

Kind of sounds like the car dealer that wants to sell 'em, not work on 'em!

We have busted through thirty thousand bales today, we have tagged in a total of one-hundred twenty-nine thousand bales to be processed. I heard the GM tell an insurance man that we were eighty percent harvested. That would mean we will process a record one-hundred sixty-two thousand five-hundred bales.

Odd fact is that at the beginning of the year they set a box up for patrons to guess how many total bales will be ginned. The average guess is about one-hundred sixty-five thousand bales. High guess was 188,000.

Go figure.

The office staff along with Frank and myself always have a little pool as to WHEN we will complete the season. The past few years some of the patrons have wanted to participate in it as well. Last year it paid out about $420.

I have never won it. Remember, the only thing I have ever won is the draft lottery!

I have been working on tax deposits and settlements. Yep, I am hedging my time toward the weekend.

The GM told me that the company would pay for the Thanksgiving meal but he and his family would not help cook it. That really means you go to town and buy all the things you need for it. I almost think the shopping for it is worse than cooking it. I am predicting over a hundred thirty for the meal this year!

Today was the community Thanksgiving meal out here. The school sells plates for six dollars each and the entire community eats turkey and dressing with most of the trimmings. It's not like Mama makes but for a mass produced meal it was good.

Pat is going to Steph and J.R.'s to help them move. Robyn is going to meet her there to help paint.

Rian and Erica were surprised by their youth group parents with a baby shower last night after church. They have a name for the new baby but if you want to know it ask them.

And last but not least, happy birthday Jeanetta!

Hope your day was a good one!

FATHER, I love it when YOUR plan comes together and YOU reveal small portions of it to me!

As per usual, if I take a day off from posting it means something has gone wrong somewhere.

AND.............. that was the case Monday, and yesterday.

Our truck numbers have been down since last Friday when one driver abruptly quit, then Monday afternoon the driver who has been an ongoing problem had an accident and jackknifed his rig. I would predict insurance will total it out. Worst part is it appears we lost a trailer too, and trailers are a precious commodity.

The truck driver was running out of route when a vehicle stopped abruptly in front of him before turning their left signal light on and proceeding to the intersection. The truck driver locked up his brakes and moved to the right to avoid a rear end collision. The truck left the asphalt, rotated completely around into the side of the trailer and hit a culvert. According to the DPS, the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident fled the scene. This was the driver's story and was corroborated by a witness. The truck driver was transported by ambulance to the ER at Big Spring and was complaining of pain in his side. After x-rays and examination, the doctor determined the injuries to be minor consisting of bruised ribs. The driver was released.

The DPS officer was complimenting the driver for his actions in avoiding what could have been much worse. That praise ended when the officer was going through the truck and found an un-opened can of beer in the bunk. This is a no, no according to the DOT. The driver argued that this was not his but the officer made him take a breathalyzer test. The driver blew a 0.0. Which was good. Rick and Jake drove over from Sweetwater and Rick did a post accident drug screen on the driver, results should be back today.

That put us two trucks down Monday.

Yesterday morning the driver of truck 15 came to me and asked if we could talk. He told me he had received a call from his ex-wife and she had driven from El Paso to Eagle pass and dropped their kids off. He told her he wasn't in Eagle Pass, she said that wasn't her problem and she was enroute back to El Paso. The kids are either 10 and 12 or 12 and 14. The driver told me he had to go tend to his kids. He said he might be gone a day or two or he might be gone for good.

I told the driver from the wreck he could run truck 15 until the driver determined what his plans were. Obviously he chose not to because he left with the other man returning to Eagle Pass.

Make that three trucks down.

Rick found me one new driver but he can't be here until Thursday. K.O. is sending me a truck for a day or two, but he can't be here until this morning. I contacted another contractor who has worked with me before and he can have me two trucks sometime between Sunday and Wednesday.

It seems that we are on the extreme edges this year. Either extremely good or extremely bad.

Crazy thing is when things are extremely good on my end I am not calling. I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It seems when things are going extremely bad I call in telling Pepa, Jake, Rick or whoever, what is going on and what needs to happen, but after the initial call, there is very little flow of information. Usually this means they are having difficulty putting together a package to diffuse the situation. I realize too that they have complications due to help and contractor problems. But, lack of information or mis-information makes it difficult to develop a realistic plan at my location.

This is where Fred was so good. He always saw the entire field with all the possibilities, and when pressed to do it, he could pull a rabbit out of his hat.

We had a bit of relief yesterday when we ran a large seed block. That meant an influx of five outside trucks. To be honest, we hardly noticed the influx we were getting so behind. The GM had told me to put some seed into the house for us to continue to haul during seed blocks. I put ten loads in there and by yesterdays end, we had only taken one load out. Of course there were several things that happened that complicated things.

The GM purchased a belt conveyor. It is not designed for what he is trying to do with it. I had told him and the board that it was not necessary, we just needed a loader that could reach over the trailer sides, and eliminate the conveyor step. I have no idea what the GM paid for this albatross, but it was under powered from the get go. Last Friday he knew our plan to try to move some seed form the seed house. Monday he called the electricians and had them bring a larger motor for the conveyor. Turns out they had to re-wire the conveyor, replace the breaker box and build a new extension cord (150 feet of #10 multi-wire cable). The old cord, which was nearly two weeks old cost about eight hundred dollars, and now it is a castoff. The electricians however did not install the new motor because it was going to require some fabrication. This duty was relegated to Frank the Plant Superintendent. This scenario has always been the GM's mode of operation. He won't buy what he needs to. He will under buy and then throw money at it trying to make it right. As our luck would have it, we had four seed trucks arrive all together. Santos was loading trucks from overhead bin 1 and Julio was loading trucks from overhead bin 2. They obviously thought they had more seed than they did because the third truck was short eight thousand pounds and the fourth truck (which was loading at the same time) got only eight or nine thousand pounds. Greg the burr contractor had brought in a large loader earlier in the week and he told me if we needed it, the keys were in it. In my mind, being short on trucks, I needed to get these guys loaded and gone so they could return. I went into the shop where Frank had the conveyor to check on the progress because I knew the GM wanted to test the new configuration. No one was there, so I took Julio and we got the large loader Greg made available to me. In short time we were through loading both trucks. Just about the time we were cleaning up, the GM arrived and he was livid. "Who told us we could use that loader", "Did we know how to operate it", and "I knew he wanted to test his conveyor", I answered all of his accusations, "Greg told me if we needed his loader to get it". "So far we haven't run over anything". And, "Excuse me, but if you look over my shoulder there are still nine loads to be loaded from the seed house and if you look behind you there is a truck I have no driver for! You don't know how I wanted to ask him, "where is your conveyor". I went to find Greg and when I did, he had gotten a butt chewing too. As it turns out, the conveyor was not finished yesterday because the GM had not requisitioned drive belts.

The real reason the GM didn't want us to load without the conveyor is he didn't want anyone to know we could. If he looks stupid that is his problem. He did tell Greg that he wanted to be damn sure Greg and I knew who was running this operation! (For about five more months and then he is gone, they are forcing him to retire.).

Baby cry!

I have always enjoyed the messages on the sign at the Baptist Church in Garden City. They always are cute and or thought provoking. This week it asks, "Are you living or existing".

I think at this moment I am struggling to exist.

How 'bout you?

Have a day!

FATHER, I know, patience. YOUR love is lifting me higher.

The day off was wonderful. Cattle Baron. Excellent salad bar, good meal. Laid back. Leisurely. Relaxed. We didn't rush at all. We wandered around the recently expanded HEB. Now that is a busy place. Staples. Target. A little bit of lots of things.

Nearly none of my drivers came back when they were supposed to. Either they were late or they did not show at all. Two fit in that last class. They are on my doodie list right now. If I could find replacements I would. And I am looking.

The only two drivers who responded as was expected were Eli and Michael, and they were calling me to see when I needed them. Today Michael is off, so we will have to adapt to that.

I have always liked it best when Juan is on days and Barco is on nights. Juan drives hard from behind that control console. Barco seems to get comfortable and set the cruise control. Usually we stay up much better on loads at nights with the new shift change. Already I am dreading two weeks from now when we flip the crews again.

One day at a time.

Have a day!

FATHER.

Poor night for the plant.

They had a fire during the night and lost about four hours. Technically they had two fires but what actually happened was they didn't get all the fire out from the first one before they resumed ginning. That made the second fire a sure thing.

What to do what to do. That is the question. The main thing is to just get away from here for a little while and relax. So far this year we have not had a day that we were not rushing and trying to get back to the jobsite. That is one of the reasons I made the trip to town earlier in the week, to take some of the load off our Sunday. Secondly, some of the stops we needed to make are not open on weekends. Today it is all about us!

Reidman stayed another night in Roscoe with Memama and Pepa. Rian and his family had spent the night Friday night with them. Add E and his family in the mix and they had a house full. I bet they had fun. Reid's Mom went to ACU for a womens conference and Rian had planned on taking the boys home to Lubbock. Reid was having such a good time he wanted to stay. Rian said Reid and Holt got to watch their cousins load their show pigs and they thought that was pretty neat. (That might be a Christmas idea). My last report had Pat taking Reid to the field and he was riding a cotton stripper with Hag. I told Rian that Reid might decide to move to Roscoe. That is one of the neat things about a rural setting on the farm. There is always a lot going on. And that is right up Reid's alley!

Our crews flip tonight. Day crew comes in on night shift, guys who got off this morning are off until in the morning.

The GM told me earlier that he didn't think we would prepare a Thanksgiving meal this year. He said he didn't think his wife was up to putting it together. I don't know what he is thinking. She didn't help last year. In fact she only helped one year. Last year we bought everything for the meal and prepared it, then the plant reimbursed us. I even made a list of how much of everything we prepared. I guess I had better look for my list. I can remember 7 turkeys, and 8 gallons of whole kernel corn, and six gallons of mashed potatoes.

What the GM doesn't realize is, the meal is going to happen with or without him. Krl and I have always fed our guys and any others who wandered in. We never turned anyone away. In fact the GM came to me two years ago and asked if we could join forces and feed everyone. His employees were grumbling that he didn't think as much of them as I thought of my people. That had nothing to do with it, we were displaced along with many others and just thought it would be something everyone would enjoy.

It is a lot of work! By the way, we are still taking volunteers to help.

This next week we will begin cooking cornbread for dressing. It would be so nice if we had an industrial strength kitchen. Wednesday night just prior to Thanksgiving Day will find the board room filled with seven broaster roasters and about eleven at night we will put the birds on the fire. Thanksgiving morning will find several of us in the back de-boning the meat while Krl is preparing sixty pounds of dressing. It is not an elaborate meal, but it is good and filling and there are lots of smiles and laughter.

We have two hours off for Thanksgiving.

Have a day!

FATHER rest us well. Rest us quickly.

I am well up on my settlement cycle. No thanks to many of the morons I supervise.

Friday morning is filled with hourly settlements, after that the load settlements begin. I have tried to build them all through the week. Making my weekends a little more leisurely. I was right in the middle yesterday when there was a knock on my door. It was a driver. He told me he was having a problem with the seed poker. These were the two participants from Tuesday morning's accident. The driver was the one who rubbed the incline ladder, the poker was the one who who jumped from the ladder before it over turned. They were having a shouting match, yelling all sorts of Mexican insults back and forth. The poker refused to load the trucker, the trucker didn't want the poker's help and on and on. I went out there and got between them, making new rules for each of them in dealing with the other.

Later I got to wondering how many knives were in close proximity when I was brokering the peace accord. Both of the men are pretty sizeable and salty. It could have gotten nasty.

When I last talked to the trucker he told me he did not want that poker loading him ever again. I told the trucker, "That will show him". The poker will get paid the same whether he loads the man or not.

Duh!

The poker was very upset with me earlier in the day. He had brought his pay statement to me telling me I had shorted him twelve hours. For his three days off I had only paid him for eight hours a day. He wanted twelve. He never got out of his trailer except to make a beer run to town. I guess he thought he had it made. Crazy thing was all twenty-four hours were at time and a half. I told him I would take the pay off his check and request disability for him, he would probably get it in about six weeks and it would be almost exactly the same money. He could have been watching seed boxes of something if he had been out and about walking like the doctor told him. When everything was finally explained to him by a third party he agreed to his pay settlement.

Fred's kids can't seem to catch a break, they have had two bale trucks go down this week. That has caused us to do some major shifting just to keep the shipments moving. This week I shipped 112 loads of seed, 75 loads of bales, and two loads of motes. Not a bad week.

We are at about twenty-five thousand bales ginned. We are well over a hundred thousand bales tagged in to be processed. Anything tagged now will be ginned after the New Year begins. If harvest were to end today (which it won't) it would take us about ninety days to complete processing it!

E and the kids are at Memama's and Pepa's. This is the first visit they have made since TJ died. I am sure there will be difficult moments, but it is part of the healing process.

Kyle Patrick hit a snag in his truck driving school program. I think he is taking a leave of absence. He told his Mother he had let everyone down and disappointed them. I told her I wasn't disappointed as long as he continues to try. We all know he does not test well. He may just have to do more preparation. Best part is he can take a leave and return to school when he is ready.

Pepa gave me a report on his crop. If it turns out at the gin, this may be one of the best ever. He made 54 modules of burr extracted cotton on three hundred thirty acres. That is going to be about two bales to the acre, give or take. Not bad for dry land.

Tomorrow is a maintenance day! Yippee!

We haven't talked but I figure we will make the trek to Midland. I just don't know if it will be the Cattle Barron or Abuelos for lunch. We still have some office supplies to pickup as well as groceries.

I just can't wait to hear the plant go silent.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

FATHER, help us to persevere. Grant us YOUR peace and patience.

Well, well.

Friday. Two days to a maintenance Sunday. I've got my eye on that carrot!

By the way, hello to Steph and J.R., good to hear from you!

I ran into Midland on a parts search yesterday. Travel trailer and forklift parts were the order of the day. I think I secured everything I was looking for. I made three other supply stores and even managed to stop in at On the Border for some loaded queso and Boderitas. It was good to get away and have a little quiet time. I was mildly shocked when Krl declined my invitation.

While I was away, I missed a call from Jake. He had called to tell me that Martin (my problem driver from Wednesday) was at the gin and had a problem with the muffler on his truck and he couldn't run until it was fixed. I have no idea why these yahoos will drive out of Lubbock, through Lamesa and through Stanton or Big Spring to arrive at our remote location for repairs that require parts we don't have. Go figure!

My bale dock was clear this morning. One of the best mornings we have had since we began. The other end of the complex was another story. We are running behind due to Martin's problem Wednesday and again yesterday.

I missed a call earlier from the driver on Pepa's 23 truck. This is a semi-retired man who had driven for Rian a few years ago. He has always been a challenge to work with because he is never happy, something is always wrong. He is one of these people who have always worked for someone else and does not know or care to understand the struggles businesses have with costs. He was wanting some things for his truck recently and I told him we needed to get his rig out of the red and making money before we spend any more. I suppose in his way of thinking if you throw enough money at something, it will be better (as long as it isn't his money). This driver seems to refuse to accept any information that is not of his own.

To be honest, there have been times this year that I have purposely made myself unavailable, when this man has been around although I have never failed to return his call if I missed it. Sometimes I have enough discord going on around me without this driver's whining! This morning he told me had made a decision. He was resigning his position effective immediately. He would take the truck to his house, get his stuff out, clean it a little and have it at where I wanted it later tonight. He told be he hated to leave me in a lurch (which is B.S. because if he did he would have said I am giving notice that as soon as you can replace me I am quitting). I told him No that tonight wouldn't be good. I wanted the truck there by mid afternoon for another driver to get in it.

Reload. What are the odds the next driver will be worse than the last!

I just asked him about his thought process in making his decision. He said there were a number of things that helped make his decision. The truck pulls to the right. He doesn't like his trailer. He ruined a nine hundred dollar tarp (which he told me to take out a hundred a week to pay for it. This was driver error when he tore it), his truck is trying to heat on hot days (meaning it is running warmer than he thinks it should, and the trailer license tags have not ever come in.

I swear, this man can be anal about some of the most petty things.

I was very blunt in a very nice way. I told him that I had made available to him the easiest program possible. I told him I wanted two loads per day and he could sleep at night. Actually I had even told him he could sleep at home but he chose to sleep on site at the plant. I went on to tell him that if he was at this point this early in a year that is going to be very long, I thought he needed to quit. (I don't say resign, I tell it like it is).

Hasta la vista baby! (I wonder if Martin has a brother). I won't miss when we need to rush and the driver who is quitting decides to prepare his meal or spend forty-five minutes in the bathroom for his morning constitutional.

Crazy thing is, I didn't hire this driver for anything but his being slow and methodical, and in the past dependable. Rian and I both talked before we told Pepa what truck to put him in. I called Rian to tell him his man quit and he was surprised that this man wasn't any more work brittle than he was. Maybe he can get on drive charter buses, just don't ask him to handle the bags.

This wasn't the same man who worked for me before.

Pay cycle begins today! Lots of computer work to be done.

Fuel continues to inch up. My fuel bill last week was over twenty-three thousand dollars! Average fuel cost per gallon has increased seven cents last week, twenty-seven cents per gallon this week. Thank goodness for the variable fuel surcharge!

Have a day.

Pray for our efforts.

FATHER, YOUR love lifts me daily!

Woo whooo!

For those of you who didn't pickup on the sarcasm, that was a half ass woo whoo.

Sorry I haven't blogged the last couple of days. It has been weird and crazy.

Just the other day I was thinking that maybe, just maybe since we are so isolated from the public at our remote location, Krl and I would be spared from some of the flu bugs going around. Then I get to looking at things and realize we are not that isolated. Yesterday we got our weekly care package from Lauren. Mail and meds. Which may mean we imported germs.

But that was the least of my worries! Tuesday morning, I was in the office, having completed my rounds to be sure the shift change had occurred without problem when my phone toned. It was Cesar, one of the truck drivers from Eagle Pass. "Hey, you might want to check on Jose'", he said, "He fell off a ladder." Jose' is what we call a seed poker (actually a seed loader), and we have an incline ladder much like you see at Sam's, Lowe's or other outlets that have multi level shelving. The big difference is that we built ours and it is extremely heavy duty. What Cesar didn't say was that he was pulling away his trailer rubbed the ladder while Jose' was on it and Jose' jumped from it just before Cesar's rig hooked it and over turned it.

Double score for stupid!

That is one thing I have noticed about Cesar, he will tell you immediately when something has occurred. He will not however, admit any wrong on his part until you really get on him.

As it turns out, Jose made the eight foot leap and landed on his feet prior to dropping and rolling on the ground. He was complaining of some hip and or back discomfort and I told him it was his call to go to the doctor or not. He opted to go. I woke Krl and she got me all the forms and found our list of protocols from our accident insurance as to where we are required to go first. I thought our first stop was supposed to be Scenic Mountain in Big Spring, and second stop was the Stanton Hospital and third was in Midland. As it turns out I was not even close. The sheet referred us to an Urgent Care Facility in Midland. We made the drive, walked into the medical mall at the address we were instructed to go to, but we found no Urgent Care Facility. I made an inquiry to a woman working at one of the offices and she told me she had worked in that building five years and didn't recognize the Urgent Care Facility as a tenant. When I called the number listed with the address, no one answered. I called Krl, she called the insurance company and finally they instructed us to go to the big hospital's emergency room.

Jose' and I walked into an empty ER waiting room. (I didn't even know such a thing existed). We went through the first interview quickly, then we went through their version of triage, and finally they took Jose' back. I got settled in with the ESPN magazine and was hoping for a quick visit and good reports for Jose'. A short period later, they came and got me to to go back where Jose' was. I was optimistic they had already had x-ray results. I was wrong. We sat back there four hours before they came to get him for x-rays. Probably the funniest moment was when they asked Jose' if he wanted something for pain and he told them yes. When they went to get it, I told Jose' they were going to give him a big injection in his backside. He wanted to argue and told me, "No, they will give me a tablet". His eyes were as big as saucers when the nurse walked in with a syringe! We almost had a repeat performance of his leap off the ladder when the nurse gave him his shot in the backside. As soon as she was out of the room he looked at me and said, "No mas, no mas, vamanosee por la planta". He had had enough. I told him we had too much time invested to bail out. When results came back, no breaks or fractures, no herniated or slipped discs. The doctor told him they suspected a muscle strain and gave him a prescription for some muscle relaxers and pain pills and instructed him to take off until Friday.

I feel all of this could have been avoided if he had warmed up properly before his dismount!

The pharmacy was another experience from H-E double L.

By the time we returned to the plant, the entire day was gone, and so was my isolation health program.

Yesterday when I woke I was playing catch up. But that didn't last for long. Almost immediately a driver was calling saying his truck wouldn't run. Then Delfino called me and told me the new forklift was not running very well. In both cases I suspected fuel filters. By the time I arrived at the truck, another driver who had a spare filter helped the driver with the problem. We started the truck and I left there and went to get a fuel filter out of the supply trailer for the forklift. I had two filters, both of which apparently were defective. When I would install the water separator on the bottom of it, it would not seal. I called the forklift dealer because they were going to bring me some warranty parts (from Sunday's breakdown) and that would save me the two hour jaunt to and from town. Walla, the call was in time and they were adding my request to their list. About that time the trucker with the problem walked up and told me his truck was still broken. I began to think maybe he had jelled fuel. It had gotten cold enough yesterday for Delfino's trailer to have a water problem, so I went to the Farm Store and bought a half gallon of fuel conditioner. I told the driver to let the truck idle until I told him other wise. I quizzed him about how much fuel he had and he assured me he had enough for one more run to Lubbock. I finally told him to try it again and he went to test the truck and it appeared it was going to work when he took a left turn and circled the plant. Same thing. I got in the truck and tried it, just so I could experience what it was doing. I thought it might be one of the shut down sensors so we filled all the fluid levels (it was low on water/antifreeze) and tried it again. Same result.

Becoming frustrated I told him to let it sit and run while I worked on the forklift. In a bit I returned to the truck, found it turned off and no driver. I went to his travel trailer and he wasn't there either. I went to my trailer and decided to change clothes and take a shower because I had diesel all over me! While I was I was in the shower I came to the realization that the problem truck had to be out of fuel. Cowboy, a driver with some mechanic-ing experience called me and I asked him to wait on me and we would check out the truck with the problem. When I arrived at the truck, Cowboy greeted me with "Boss, that sucker's bone dry!" I called the driver and asked where he was. He told me, "In Big Spring, why?" I told him what we had found and he wanted to argue that he was not out of fuel. I told him to return and we would discuss it. When He arrived he was very defensive and I was just about out of patience. We hauled enough fuel to get the truck to the pumps and he was trying to be as irritating as he could be. He would slam my pickup door, try to splash me with diesel when he was pouring it in the truck and there were other small adolescent acts. Finally I got right in his face and told him how the cow ate the cabbage and I didn't care if he continued to work out here or not, that my life would be much less stressful if he went on down the road and it would probably make me feel a whole lot better if I just whipped his ass and sent him on his way. I don't know if he was shocked or thought he might be fixing to get fired, but he became a lot more cooperative. When we arrived at the fuel pumps we put one hundred thirty-eight gallons of fuel in a one hundred thirty gallon tank.

Nope, he wasn't out of fuel, he says. The proof is in the puddin'.

To top of my day with this driver, he told me he didn't want to take the load until morning because he was scared he might have trouble. My interpretation of this was that Jose' and him went into town together, picked up a thirty pack of Bud Light along with something to cook and they were planning on having a party! I called Jake and Jake had a talk with him. The driver didn't want to go, but he did.

When I woke shortly after midnight the driver's truck had returned and reloaded.

Baby cry! (as Eusebio would say, meaning cry baby).

Make that a double double score for stupid.

I have been so happy to get in for the night and hide in my trailer! Actually the company has a lot to do with that. It also helps that the company has supper cooking when I walk through the door! I continue to think in a prior life I was oriental. Krl had some sort of recipe she concocted that had rice and stir fried veggies. It was scrumptious!

Well, I have vented, you have been vented on!

Have a day!

FATHER, a little help!

Leap of faith.

That is what is fixing to happen. I am fixin' to leap on that sorry dog truck driver that is causing me so much grief here at the jobsite and I know I will put a deluxe whipping on him.

The truck driver talked with the safety and insurance man and gave him a sob story of how he couldn't get unloaded at the warehouse and it was making him take longer to do his shift. Crazy thing is, a driver that was summoned in at the same time was HOME six hours before Cricket yesterday. They pick up and deliver at the same locations.

Go figure.

Once again we are behind.

And I am beginning to run out of patience. I can't get hold of who I need to, their phones go straight to voice mail. So yesterday I was talking with Tricky Rick the safety and insurance man and this morning I can't even get him. I did get a call from Mr. Saunders (whose role I really don't know), telling me that Cricket slept all night in a roadside park, and asking me how bad a shape I was in. He was supposed to call me back with a relief plan but I have not heard from him.

I think it may be a case of no one wants to be responsible or maybe even too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. Regardless, I am becoming frustrated with unanswered phone calls and indecision.

It is not like I can't call in help from other sources. Maybe I have too much family allegiance, but at some point that becomes secondary.

The 'Canes got beat in overtime. Kirb had a horrible game. 1 for about a dozen, one TD and three picks. Yikes. I still wonder about the coaches ability to put together a game plan for Kirb. I know at Oklahoma their package really sucked.

Krl paid the day rate so I could watch the game and I think they activated all the channels except that one. It made me furious.

Last night I got a call from my night forklift operator and he was having a problem with the new machine. This is the second of this make machine I have purchased, but this one has not been near the experience of the first one. It seems like all we have done is tighten bolts and chains and other attachments. I have a call in to the dealer right now. Sounds like a warranty claim to me.

Well, I had better get. I need to get this operation derailed from going straight to h-e- double hockey sticks today.

I'm going to look for some pajamas with a "S" on the chest.

Have a day.

FATHER, I don't even know where to begin.

Well, well. Loads stacked everywhere.

I have isolated the culprit responsible. He is a driver we refer to as Cricket. Last week he came on board needing and wanting to work. Fresh out of jail for delinquent child support, he told me he had been praying for a job. Cricket can do the job when Cricket wants to. Cricket's biggest down fall is he is not disciplined. He will go home and not sleep, but watch television (usually cartoons and such) and then when he is supposed to go to work he is tired. He is currently single, has a history of substance abuse, and always has a sob story. What Cricket doesn't realize is that what he does causes a domino effect for many of us. It is a major problem for me to secure additional equipment to catch up. It also affects the other driver he is sharing his truck with. And last but not least, it affects the nieces and nephews who own the truck he is driving. Yesterday I looked at the sign out book and two Blacksheep trucks had hauled seven loads to their truck's two. One driver came on and hauled three loads before Cricket had picked up load two.

Cricket is killing our program.

In the past a gig driving for Fred would always give Cricket a jump start on another job. this time, if he can't right himself it may be a final stop before being shown the door. As much as I feel sorry for him, I can't continue to work him and I would lose all credibility if I gave him a referral.

I wonder if we are asking too much of Cricket. Of course he did have some input as to the performance parameters. Maybe he needs to be a stop gap or fill in driver.

I have been hard at it on my computer with the weekly truck and driver settlements. That is one thing that being behind on the docks does for me. It makes me burrow down and try to find something else to do to keep my mind off my problems. I am well ahead of schedule. In fact Krl is already proofing one group that I prepared last night.

The second group may be an interesting project because two drivers seem to refuse to do the paperwork. I figure if it costs them money they'll pay attention.

Have a good weekend.

FATHER, I am sinking. Rescue me.

Just about the time I am getting caught up, another Friday and the cycle begins again!

But I'm not complaining.

I'm really feeling much better about things. I am finally getting all my templates built and that will make for much easier settlements and record keeping. I was able to key and spread loads yesterday so I am much closer to where I need to be beginning the new settlement cycle.

I find my trucks running habitually behind, and that bothers me. Late yesterday I called in and told Trick to call in my night drivers a little early and to tell them I needed three loads from each of them. This morning I am finding one did the three while the other has only done one. Add to this that one day driver was only able to do one load yesterday because the night driver was late getting in with the truck they share, and we were chasing our tail all day long.

Today we have a reprieve. Seed block, so specialty trucks will be coming in. That is O.K., maybe I can divert my trucks to catch up roles. Bad news is, through the weekend we have absolutely no help!

I am so thankful for the positive attitude my on the ground people have this year. They are so upbeat. It doesn't seem to phase them what goes wrong, they just continue forward doing what they know they are supposed to do. I appreciate that.

As of last night when I was in the office we were tagging modules in at a record rate. We have only processed sixteen thousand five hundred bales but we were between sixty and seventy thousand bales tagged in to be processed. That would put this year into fourth place all time! Yikes! I was talking to one producer and he told me he had one place (640 acres) that yielded three hundred fifty bales more than on '05. If this is true across the board this would mean we are looking at 189,997. Double yikes!

Yesterday on Yahoo sports and also in an AP story they had an interview with Kirby. He was talking about this year as a whole, the loss of Fred and TJ, and what role sports play in the total picture. I was impressed and proud. Today they are supposed to announce if Kirby or Kyle will start tomorrow. Kirby was very real in his assessment that if he started it would just be until Kyle was healthy. If the other Hurricane players have matured as much as Kirby, they may be a force to recon with next year.

I caught a quick quote this morning that I liked. It said, "When things are bleakest, plant a tree in your heart and someday a bird will come to sing".

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for YOUR love.

Oh what a week. Just when things seem to be falling into a rhythm, the drummer goes to beating a different cadence. Throw in the mix a year that is VERY odd in the fact that we have had more odd things go wrong inside the plant than we have in ten years, and it has been feast or famine.
I finally made my Abilene run. Yesterday. Wednesday. That's not too far from Sunday is it? My first stop was my barber. But, my barber wasn't there. His station was cleaned out. Actually he is not my barber. He was the first one who cut my hair there and I really liked the job he did. All three barbers have cut my hair and they are pretty much equals. Anyhow, I got my hair cut and began my errands.

Next stop was the Post Office. In the box was a notice for a certified letter dated over a week ago. I went in to the part of the building that houses all the counter persons to cash in my coupon and while standing there I had a spandex experience. About all I can say about that is wow! There may and there may not be more on this subject later.

Then it was on to the house.

Home again, home again. I wouldn't even allow myself the luxury of enjoying it or else Krl would be calling asking when I was coming back. I was very methodical and worked down the list. Thirty minutes later I was on the road West.

I stopped in and ate lunch with Memama and Pepa. We got to visit a little but Memama spent most of her time on the phone. Then I went by a RV shop and picked up a conversion kit for the hot water heater that is giving me fits. By three in the afternoon I was back on site!

It is very odd how things can be in good shape on all fronts when I leave and by the time I get back it is a train wreck. Such was the case yesterday. A new driver had come out early, then experienced a problem and finally when he showed the second time, Charles had already picked up his third load for the day. If you are keeping score, that is 3-2. I was making some alternate arrangements when the big plant began coasting down. They had blown up a bucket in their electrical board. I had never seen this happen before. This is like a big industrial strength electrical box that houses a power source for only one piece of machinery. There are three huge wall banks of these boxes. Anyhow, we were down for a few hours, which allowed for us to do some catching up.

By morning we were behind again. Actually it was long before morning. A truck I called for at seven arrived two hours late and had forgotten his fuel card.

Hey, I didn't expect rocket scientists but no one said brains were optional.

And the scumbag that has been causing Fred's family so much grief has been back trying to do more of the same. It seems he has been making threats and promises. The local authorities are putting together a case against him. It turns out he has been in prison for grand larceny, attempted murder and child molestation.

I can't for the life of me understand what Fred might have seen in him. He really reeled Fred's family in, gaining their confidence, and then he pooped on them big time.

I keep hoping this jerk will go back to Oklahoma.

Well, I guess I will do something.

Have a day.

FATHER, a little help here. Make that a lot of help here!